Adult Daughter (“AD”): Hi Mom, Alex said to tell you “hi.”
Me: That’s nice. How is she?
AD: How are “they?” Alex uses “they,” mom.
Me: Oh right, sorry. I am having some trouble wrapping my head around using “they” and “them.”
AD: Well mom, that is something you’re going to just have to get over.
Using “they” to refer to one person short circuits my long life of grammar training. I found my mind resisting the plural no matter how many times I reminded myself that Alex uses plural pronouns. As I considered my brain’s resistance to “they/them,” I realized that singular gendered pronouns are truly a cultural construct. I went on to muse that maybe Alex was on to something bigger than themselves. I began to think about the Bible, arguably the foundational document of our patriarchal society, and how it uses a plural form while referring to a singular or one God.
To read the rest of this post go to the link below:
What Gender is God Anyway?
